WYSPIAŃSKI MUSEUM IN CRACOW

Nizio Design International developed the concept for the concours for the Wyspiański Museum in Kraków — a building designed in immediate proximity to the Main Building of the National Museum in Kraków, conceived as a distinct architectural volume entering into dialogue with it.

The project begins with a rotation of the new building relative to the Main Building of the MNK, through which the two volumes form a dynamic, diagonal composition with a triangular square between them — an urban interior evoking the streets and alleyways of historic Kraków. The lightness of the curtain glass facades is a deliberate counterpoint to the monumental stone front of its neighbour. By day the glass reflects its surroundings; at night, light escaping from within casts coloured reflections onto the stone elevation of the Main Building. Behind the glazed facades, living climbing plants rise towards the roof garden, where flowers known from Wyspiański’s art are grown. Illuminated at night, their clustered forms read from outside as an organic sculpture — the building becomes a living organism subject to the transformations of the seasons.

The interior is governed by the principle of flexibility and changeability — inherent both to nature and to the theatre so central to Wyspiański’s work. A system of sliding walls and curtains allows the exhibition, auditorium and café spaces to be freely reconfigured. The symbolic heart of the building is a triple-height atrium housing Wyspiański’s design for the stained-glass window depicting the Creator.